As police questioned the fishermen, they were shocked to learn that the four – a Spanish couple, a resort operator and his worker – had actually been picked up by two other boats from Vietnam.
Malaysian vessel KM Bestari picked up the four from the two Vietnamese fishing boats which were anchored at Amboyna Cay in Vietnam’s side of the disputed Spratly Islands waters. At 6pm yesterday, they were on their way back.
The four – Spanish couple David Hernandez Gasulla, 29, and Martha Miguel, 30, Tanjung Simpang Mengayau resort owner Tommy Lam Wai Yin (Chinese national domiciled in Sabah), 44, and his 23-year-old worker Armella Ali Hassan – are reportedly in good health, except for sunburn.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Sabah and Labuan regional director First Admiral Mohd Zubil Mat Som said yesterday that they would be brought to Kota Kinabalu before being sent for medical check-ups.
They will then be interviewed over what happened.
“Right now, we do not know what exactly happened to them and when and how they were picked up by the Vietnamese,” he told a press conference yesterday evening.
He said the discovery of the four came by accident when they detained a Vietnamese fishing trawler in Layang-Layang area, about 150 nautical miles from Labuan, at about 8.30am.
On checking with the 16 crew members, they learnt that the four victims were in another two Vietnamese fishing boats that had already left the area and were headed into Amboyna Cay.
“The fishermen contacted the two other trawlers that had been with them in our waters earlier. All of a sudden, Armella came on the radio communication.
“We were shocked. The woman on the radio told us she was Armella and it didn’t hit me then that she was among the four missing people. It was only when she said she was with Tommy that it clicked,” he said.
Armella confirmed that Lam was also on the boat with her and that the Spanish couple was on the other vessel.
Gasulla and Miguel, together with Armella, contacted their respective families through satellite phone.
“Arresting the Vietnamese was crucial in the finding of the four. If we had not come into contact with them, we would never have known and would still be searching until they arrived in Vietnam,” First Admiral Mohd Zubil said.
“The Vietnamese probably had planned to hand them over but were in no rush to do so,” he said, adding that they were not taking action against the Vietnamese boat crew for encroachment into Layang-Layang area as part of efforts to get back the four.
He said the two Malaysian navy and MMEA vessels had been allowed by Vietnam to enter the territory at 5.10pm after Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Putrajaya made an official request.
He said they hoped to bring them back to Kota Kinabalu by midnight although they might use a Bombardier seacraft to hasten their return here.
The four were reported missing on May 2 while on a two-hour boat ride from Pulau Balambangan to Simpang Mengayau in Sabah’s northern Kudat district.
Search efforts had found no traces of them although fishermen had netted the capsized boat.
However, the weight of the boat was too much for the net to bear and they had to cut off the nets, salvaging only a 3HP speedboat engine.
The fishermen said there was another 30HP speedboat engine in the boat.
Many had been in doubt if the four could survive the treacherous waters of the South China Sea.
Family members of the Spanish couple, Lam and Armella were keeping vigil but all refused to comment on the latest development as they awaited the return of the four.
Gasulla receiving medical attention after he and three others were picked up by MMEA officers
PETALING JAYA: The two Spaniards found by Vietnamese fishermen after they went missing off the coast of Sabah on May 2 are in “good health, very relieved, happy and thankful”.
David Hernandez Gasulla, 29, and his girlfriend Martha Miguel, 30, both from Spain, will be reunited today with their family members who are waiting for them in Kota Kinabalu.
“We heard from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) that they were found by the Vietnamese fishing vessels and apparently the lady (Miguel) had contacted her family through a satellite telephone on board the vessel,” Spanish Ambassador to Malaysia Carlos Dominguez Diaz said yesterday when contacted.
“The Spanish Government is grateful to the chief of navy (Laksamana Datuk Seri Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin), Wisma Putra and the MMEA for all the work carried out in the search and rescue of the four people, including the two Spaniards.
“Our Foreign Affairs Minister also spoke to (his Malaysian counterpart) Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and expressed his appreciation.
“We are also very thankful to the fishermen who found them,” said Diaz.
